Eric Schlissel

I’ve had an iPhone since the day they were available. I went from a 2g to a 3g as soon as I could. I’m a Mac user most of the time. I’m not an Apple fanboi, but I do believe that my MacBook Pro and my iPhone are the finest pieces of hardware I’ve ever owned and include the most user-friendly and sophisticated operating system and application software available. Well, that does actually sound like fanboism. Oh well.

About two months ago I started spending some time revitalizing my personal tech support company, and the need for reliably making and receiving phone calls became critical. Previously, I spent most of my phone time using apps and listening to music. For those applications the iPhone is the best “phone” available. However, AT&T’s network is so bad that I literally have not been able to make/maintain phone calls from either of the last two places I’ve lived. It drops almost every call. Voicemail and text messages come in hours after they are sent. The list goes on. I’m getting angry just typing this. Regardless of how great the hardware and software are, if the iPhone can’t make calls, its useless moving forward.

I couldn’t wait for the iPhone to become available on Verizon this fall (per rumours), and I also don’t want to continue rewarding Apple with my business after these disastrous last two years. Apple should know better than to choose greed over user experience. Anyway, I started looking for phones and came across the Google Nexus One (aka N1). It has all of the features I’d want from an Android phone, but it is only available on T-Mobile. While I was waiting for the N1 to arrive on Verizon, I read about the HTC Incredible and was blown away by its specs. Then the reviews started trickling out last week and I was sold. It was the second time I pre-ordered a phone sight-unseen. Frankly, I was nervous but excited.

Incidentally, as MG Seigler writes, Verizon has since ditched the N1 in favor of the Incredible.

FedEx delivered my HTC Droid Incredible yesterday, one day before the official launch. Like a good nerd, I’ve been dual phoning with my iPhone 3g and HTC Incredible for about 24 hours. In short, it is indeed incredible. Here are my thoughts:

Huge wins:

• Hey look, I can make phone calls!
• Integrated Google Voice – I can select which phone number each call goes out from. Hotness.
• Great in-hand feel
• Slick interface, though could be confusing for non-geeks
• Video camera
• 8 megapixel camera with dual flash
• Tight integration with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr
• Multi-tasking
• Verizon’s network
• Excellent Google maps app

Missing Android apps (for the moment):

• MLB At Bat video streaming
• Mint
• Chase Banking
• MiniBooks (Freshbooks accounting app)
• Skype over WiFi (not a big deal for me, just interesting)
• Team Viewer (remote control for PCs and Macs, although VNC is available)
• iTunes (music syncing is clunky)
• A few random occasionally used apps

Bummers:

• Battery life – haven’t fully charged it, but it does seem to drain fast
• Mobile Broadband Connect – not available for my Mac?
• No included headphones
• SD card problems – card may be defective  – fixed
• Action button on top of phone, instead of middle of front – its clumsy.
• Screen brightness in sunlight

iPhone Bummers (for reference):

• AT&T.
• No phone calls.
• No tethering
• No Google Voice integration
• No threaded conversation support in Mail
• Crap camera, no flash
• AT&T.

In summary, I love this phone and will be replacing my iPhone with it. I know that other Android phones will keep coming out every month with better specs than this one (like the upcoming Sprint EVO 4G), but I’m cool with that. I can make phone calls now, and I’m happy. Or as @andysternberg said, at least until Motorola comes out with the F’ing A.

- @es